Markets & Finance

KRA grows tax revenue by Sh72bn

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Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini. KRA has collected Sh707 billion in revenue taxes for the period 2011/12 against a Sh716 billion target. Photo/File

Kenya Revenue Authority grew its tax collection 11 per cent in the fiscal year ended June 2012 amidst a difficult macroeconomic environment.

The tax revenue for the period July 2011-June 2012 totalled Sh707.4 billion compared to Sh634.9 billion the previous year.

Customs service grew 9 per cent to Sh244.2 billion, domestic taxes 12.6 per cent to Sh460.3 billion and road transport posted 4.5 per cent growth at Sh2.7 billion.

Revenue growth was poorest in petroleum taxes and indirect domestic taxes.

“Petroleum taxes, however, dropped four per cent in the period under review due to removal of excise duty on kerosene and the reduction of excise duty on diesel in mitigation against inflation last year,” said KRA Commissioner-General John Njiraini in a statement last Friday.

Indirect domestic taxes, which include consumption-based taxes such as VAT and excise duty and collections on land rent, stamp duty and agency fees declined 3.7 per cent.

A shifting consumption pattern for beer that saw increased preference for non-malt containerised brands — whose volume growth for the year stood at 60 per cent — helped to reduce domestic excise duty. Alcohol and tobacco account for 90 per cent of the domestic excise duty.

The discontinuation of withholding VAT was largely responsible for the 10.9 per cent decline of domestic VAT.

KRA is in the process of putting in place an electronic tax filing module that will be rolled out in October to increase efficiency in tax collection.

READ: KRA goes for new devices to watch over the taxpayer

Taxes from small business enterprise rose by 21 per cent to Sh137 billion while large taxpayers increased their tax payments by nine per cent to Sh322.7 billion.

Trade taxes increased 15 per cent from Sh148.7 billion to Sh171.1 billion.

Fees and licences raked in Sh11 billion up from Sh9.5 billion last year.

The taxman said tax revenues from airtime have recovered to assume an upward trajectory after price wars among telecommunication companies toned down with some tariff increases.

The taxman is also in the process of enhancing the Electronic Tax Register (ETR) through interconnectivity to a central server via GPRS.

The system will facilitate two-way communications between tax payers and KRA. The system, already piloted with Tuskys supermarkets, will enable improved monitoring of ETR and easier capture of data.

KRA is also preparing to raid landlords who have largely escaped taxation since Independence.